Ben and Jerry's (File photo courtesy Wikimedia Commons)
"The fallout over the decision by Ben & Jerry’s to no longer sell its products in what the company calls 'occupied Palestinian territory,' which includes parts of Jerusalem, immediately rippled throughout the Jewish world, with Israel’s leaders and pro-Israel groups urging action and threatening legal consequences against the ice-cream company and its corporate owner, Unilever.
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett spoke with Unilever CEO Alan Jope on Tuesday, saying that the Jewish state takes the move very seriously.
According to the Prime Minister’s Office, Bennett told Jope that he views the decision as 'anti-Israel' and that this action will have 'severe consequences, including legal, and [Israel] will take strong action against any boycott directed against its citizens.'
At the same time, Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Gilad Erdan said that he has written to 35 U.S. governors noting that the decision by Ben & Jerry’s violates individual states’ anti-BDS legislation...
Professor Eugene Kontorovich, director of International Law at the Jerusalem-based Kohelet Policy Forum, who was instrumental in overturning the Airbnb boycott, said the situation actually exposes the weakness of BDS.
'Ben & Jerry’s extreme ideology has made them adopt a policy that leaves both Jews and Palestinians without a scoop. But it is actually a sign of the failure of the movement to boycott Israel, which can only score victories with consciously ‘woke’ companies. Indeed, Ben & Jerry’s is more anti-Israel than many Arab states, which are opening full economic relations with Israel.'
‘Boycotts are discriminatory and inflame Israeli-Palestinian conflict’
Several pro-Israel groups are urging their supporters to boycott the creators of Phish Food and Chunky Monkey, or at the very least let the company know they are opposed to the decision.
Mort Klein, national president of the Zionist Organization of America, said 'Ben and Jerry’s ice-cream’s anti-Semitic refusal to sell their high-fat, high-sugar, overpriced product to 800,000 Jews in Judea, Samaria, eastern Jerusalem only emboldens Jew-haters throughout the world and the terrorist groups of Hamas/Fatah/Iran. Their action will cause more Jewish deaths and injuries than their unhealthy ice-cream will.'...”